Friend to the friendless

Reaching out to the homeless and needy, Joy McGuire uses her ministry to share Christ with people most of us never see

By: Jamie Dean

Charlotte--- Each night, an estimated 5,000 homeless people in Mecklenburg County go to sleep in a strange place: behind a dumpster, under a bridge, in the woods, in an abandoned building, perhaps in a shelter. At least half of the 5,000 are women and children, according to 2000 study commissioned by county officials called “Living in the Shadows.”

They are on the streets for a thousand different reasons: many abuse drugs and alcohol; some have been evicted from their homes because they can’t afford rent; some are sick; some have lost jobs; some have fled an abusive relationship and have no place to go. They suffer the consequences of bad choices and hard circumstances.

Shelters in Charlotte typically reach capacity every night, and even turn folks away, especially during the cold winter months. The hot meals and warm beds we often take for granted are hard to come by for a growing number of people we seldom see, but who are all around us.

Seeing the unseen
While the majority of people in Charlotte may seldom encounter the homeless, Joy McGuire serves them a home-cooked meal six nights a week at a gas station in east Charlotte. The Indian Trail woman is director of With Love From Jesus, a Christian ministry she operates from her small home on Indian Trail-Fairview Road.

McGuire, 39, a member of First Baptist Indian Trail, is the ministry’s only full-time employee, putting in ten-to-twelve-hour days, but she’s never drawn a salary in the organization’s three-and-half-year history. “I get paid back in ways better than money,” she says. A small band of volunteers helps McGuire manage the long list of services the non-profit ministry offers for free.

First, there’s the clothing closet. Really, it’s a clothing shed. A small building behind McGuire’s home is packed from front to back with donated clothing for all seasons, for all sizes. An area in the back is reserved for donated baby items like diapers, clothes and car seats. Mothers in need can take whatever they need, McGuire says: “I really feel like if we’re going to say abortion is wrong, we need to help women keep their babies.”

A handful of refrigerators and freezers line the walls of the building, filled with groceries for people who can’t scrape enough money together to buy food. “Everybody who needs food gets two weeks worth,” McGuire says. McGuire stocks the freezers using financial donations made to the ministry.

Next to the shed sits a 53-foot trailer, also packed with clothing and other household items like furniture and appliances. If someone needs something McGuire doesn’t have, she puts them on a list and looks for it.

Four times a year the ministry has a give-away day. (The next one is April 30.) On give-away days McGuire and her volunteers pull everything out into the yard, and passers-by can take what they need for free.

But most of the time, folks just come on their own. McGuire says they hear about the ministry from pastors, pregnancy care centers, word-of-mouth, and even local hospitals. Each person who comes by fills out a profile sheet that includes an option for requesting a visit from a local pastor. McGuire says she isn’t worried about people taking advantage of her generosity. “I’m accountable to give, and they’re accountable for what they do with it,” she says.

Hot meals on cold nights
Most of the time, there’s little doubt that the people that With Love From Jesus helps are in need – especially the people they help on the streets. Six nights a week McGuire and a few volunteers load her van with a hot meal that McGuire or someone else fixes at home. One recent Wednesday night, pork chop casserole was on the menu, prepared by Anita McNeil, McGuire’s mother.

The group sets up a folding table in the parking lot of a gas station in east Charlotte, where they’ve received permission from the store’s manager to serve a meal from 6:30-8:30 each night. As soon as they start setting up, the homeless and hungry begin to arrive.

A young man named Joe is a regular at the evening meals. He shakes hands and greets the volunteers by name. “Sometimes this is the only meal I get in a day,” he says. Joe says he lives about a mile away in the woods. “I have a tent, so that’s good,” he says.

He also has one of the new sleeping bags McGuire bought using donations from local churches. “I was real grateful for that,” he says. Joe says he used to be a welder, but that he has a health problem that keeps him from working: “I’ve been on the street two years next month.”

Before the meal, everyone joins hands and McGuire asks God’s blessing on the food and on the people who will receive it. “Help them see the love of Jesus,” she prays.

While the volunteers eat with their guests, McGuire walks through the parking lot pointing out where some folks live. Behind a concrete wall surrounding a dumpster, crates are stacked into a makeshift bed. A man named Mikey used to sleep on the crates, staying warm by getting into trash bags. McGuire recently arranged for Mikey to enter a Christian halfway house in Monroe, where he is learning discipline and job skills.

Across the parking lot, a rock-shaped cover sits over water pipes next to the car wash. McGuire knocks on the plastic cover like she’s knocking on a front door. No one answers, so McGuire lifts the cover to reveal a crumple of blankets. “That’s where Paco lives,” she says.

Many of the people who come for a meal wear coats and gloves that McGuire has brought from the clothing closet at her home. They all seem as grateful for the conversation as they do for the dinner and clothing.

Since With Love From Jesus began its street ministry three months ago, McGuire has helped seven men get off the streets and into halfway houses. “Four of them have accepted Christ,” she says.

Sharing Christ is the ultimate goal of the street ministry, according to McGuire. “I believe this ministry is showing them the light they need to get out of the fog,” she says. “And that light is Jesus.”

Not everyone is easy to help, however. McGuire says most of the street people the group encounters struggle with drug abuse. In fact, McGuire can usually tell what kind of drug a person is using just by looking at him. That’s because she’s been there herself.

Grateful debtor
“I’ve been in every one of these people’s shoes,” McGuire says. In fact, McGuire’s tireless devotion to serving the needy comes from her own experience with neediness. She says that before her conversion she abused drugs and alcohol, spent time in jail, and was on the streets for a few days: “It was a long road with lots of bad stuff.”

After becoming a Christian, McGuire knew she could relate to people in need in a unique way. “There’s nothing that anyone can come up my driveway with that I can look down on them for,” she says. “I really believe that God allowed all these things to happen in my life so that I could show these people the unconditional love of Jesus. If God could save me, He could save anybody.”

“Amen,” says With Love From Jesus volunteer Leroy Johnson. Johnson learned about McGuire’s ministry while in jail. When he earned work-release privileges, Johnson chose to spend his time volunteering for With Love From Jesus. Since he was released from prison on March 8 he’s continued to volunteer while holding down a job. “I got out of prison yesterday,” he told the “Charlotte World” as he helped serve dinner. “And there’s no other place I’d rather be.”

Billie Mills agrees. The 71-year-old volunteer everyone calls “Miss Billie” says street ministry “was definitely out of my comfort zone at first.” “But it’s something God has called us to do,” she says. “Now it’s a joy.”

McGuire says that Christians need to be willing to leave their comfort zones to minister to those most in need. “God calls us out of our comfort zones,” she says. “And He teaches us to depend on him.”

“I’ve learned that God don’t need me and God don’t need you,” she adds. “But He allows us to serve Him and He allows us to go along for the ride. And I couldn’t ask for a better ride.”

HOW TO HELP With Love From Jesus

Contribute money
With Love From Jesus is a non-profit ministry that is dependent on financial donations. McGuire says the ministry’s greatest need right now is for tax-deductible monetary donations to complete a two-story building for food storage.

Donate items
The ministry currently has a some significant needs, including a truck to carry food to the homeless, and a warehouse for storage.

The ministry also needs donations of: non-perishable food items, baby items, clothing, used furniture and household appliances. Churches are encouraged to organize food drives.

Volunteer time
McGuire says she always needs help folding, sorting and setting up clothing; fixing hot meals; and organizing donations.

To volunteer or to give contact:Joy McGuire at With Love From Jesus at 704-635-0164 or visit www.withlovefromjesuscharlotte.com
Mailing address and resource center: 5226 Indian Trail-Fairview Road, Indian Trail, N.C. 28079 (3/18/2005)

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